The long, low whirring blast of the horn bellowed out across the town as thefamiliar wrapping of torrents began to build up. In the darkness, people gatheredtheir tools and headed for the hollows. Huge wooden doors opened all along thecentral thoroughfare. It was midday and the sky was black.

Alistair looked towards the hallway and then at the kitchen door. One of the invisible monsters stood in each. Both were looking straight at him. He looked at them as he always did, with morbid fascination tinged with a very natural fear.